Sunday, August 28, 2011

Day Two: NB to PEI

I had planned to write at least a brief post last night, headed "Day One: MA to NB". However, by the time we found a motel room, it was 10 PM (Atlantic time, but still), and I was waaayyyy too tired to do anything but remove my contacts and fall into bed. Let's just say that even with a sleep aid, I don't usually sleep for eleven hours, but I needed it.

Most of yesterday was great, in fact, it was just the last two hours of mist/fog/complete lack of visibility in the increasing darkness, with inability to find food and bed, that were challenging-shall-we-say.

To prove my point, let me show you the pictures I took yesterday. Granted, I was driving much of the day, and we were eager to get going, so I didn't stop for a few fun things (like the alpaca outside the alpaca store, or the sign outside a store in Maine that listed their items for sale: gasoline, dried beans, Maine books). Still, a rare day on a trip includes so few photos, and so many of them being fast-food related.

We stopped at a rest area and had lunch at Burger King. Someone showed unexpected whimsy at the drink machine:

Coke pairs well with... I love it.

Dinner, unfortunately, was a McDonald's, since it was open. In the US, the golden arches are unadorned, but not so in Canada:

Also, the quarter pounder is bilingual.

So was the side of the french fry package, but I didn't get a clear shot of that. Sorry.

So that was yesterday. Today was much less wearisome, though not much more photographed. In fact, it's mostly the restaurant where we had dinner, Sims Corner Steakhouse, which was lovely.

The chicken-stuffed chicken was delicious, and beautifully plated:
The creme brulee, on the other hand, did not last long enough to be photographed. It was everything a creme brulee should be. Mmm.
And now I must go to bed. More later from the land of vacation, otherwise known as What Day Is It Again? Doesn't matter.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Rogue Applesauce

While I was reading at lunch today, my spoonful of applesauce decided to adhere to the law of gravity, and my trousers. Whoops! Direct hit. A good book is good escapism, but can be hard on clothing.

[I'm reading a knitting novel called Chicks with Sticks (It's a purl thing), and enjoying it, obviously. I tried Thirteen Reasons Why, which someone recommended, and got halfway through before I couldn't take any more. Sometimes I can handle a really sad topic and sometimes I can't; right now, I'm in a Can't period. It's a good book, but I wasn't enjoying it, so I stopped.]

Posting after tonight will be erratic, since my mother arrives tomorrow and I may have (gasp!) better things to do. No! Did I say that? Other things to do.

A pretty flower in a friend's garden.
Here's a house I liked:
And a sunflower playing peekaboo:
One picture I'm not posting, because it's totally blurry, is of a bumper sticker I saw tonight. It said, "I'm a fermata: hold me." Can anyone explain to me what it really means, or is it simply a musician thing? (I only recognized it from the Nicholson Baker title, though I never actually read the book.)(Working in a bookstore makes one familiar with more books than one could read in a lifetime.)

After all, non-knitter might find a bumper sticker like this puzzling:

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

This. And Also, That.

I was feeling a little sad this morning, in an unspecified way, and only when I got to work did I look at the calendar and realize, Oh. Maybe that's it.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday.

It's not a sobbing-into-a-pillow sort of day, but I'd give a lot to be able to call and wish him a happy birthday.

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Words don't fail me that often, but oh, guys, today at work. Not good. Because seriously, here's one fast and easy way to make me crazy:

Oh, you know how two weeks ago we said that for this client, on this type of deliverable, we now have to format this in this way, and that in that way? And to do it starting immediately, and not to count on the writers or anyone else to get it right, but to make sure we all do it that way? Well, actually what we meant was yeah, all that, except if this one medical director is the project manager, and the writer marks it a different way, and the moon is full, and you're wearing blue socks, but not stripes, then do what they want. But otherwise do what we said.

Uh. Huh.

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Then there was an earthquake today. I've never felt one, and this one was 500+ miles away, but I absolutely felt it, and thought for a minute that I was going crazy. Particularly since half the office noticed it and half didn't!

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Not complaining, but I can't believe that Bruins training camp opens in less than a month. It's been so many years since they even made it past the first or second round, I got used to the unending unhockeyness of summer. For so many of the last years, they were done in April, or early May, leaving only:

watch the rest of the playoffs (not caring who won, except when Ray Bourque won with Colorado)

NHL awards (for many years with no Bruins involved)

wait for the draft (for which the Bruins weren't usually up to much excitement)

wait for July 1 to see who'd sign the big free agents (usually not the Bruins)

the last few years, watch for news from the Bruins rookie-development camp in late July

start counting down to training camp in mid-September

Now, I feel like it barely just ended and here we go again. They won the Cup, then boom! awards show, boom! it was the draft, then free agency deadline, lots of signings, development camp, days with the Cup (still happening!), and now only weeks until rookies report. Wild.

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Maine Event, Pt II

The bad news this morning was that I had to be up and presentable a bit earlier than usual, and I had to write a check for $150.

The good news is that the plumber was willing to come at 7AM, my bathroom sink is once again fully functional, and the clog was not the result of anything stupid that I did, nor could it have been prevented or fixed by any action of mine (short of never using the sink, anyway). The plumber had to use his power snake! No wonder the Drano had no effect. Welcome back, sink.